Data Centres
Website and Server Hosting Data Centres
A Data Centre is, by definition, a facility used to house computer systems and associated components. As a web hosting business, Hetzner has a number of Data Centres around South Africa and in Germany which house shared and dedicated servers used to host your website(s) as well as the various components which ensure these servers run smoothly.
What can be hosted at our Data Centres?
Hetzner can host a number of solutions for your hosting requirements. Currently Hetzner offers:
Hetzner’s Data Centres
Hetzner owns and operates four Data Centres in South Africa. The first Data Centre (CPT1) was opened in Cape Town's Great Westerford Building, Newlands during 2001. In order to cope with national demand in hosting services, Hetzner strategically opened the Johannesburg DC (JHB1) in July 2004 at Gallo Manor, Sandton. By 2006 both Data Centres were running at full capacity. As a result, Cape Town's second Data Centre (CPT2) was opened in July 2006. With customer demand increasing further, together with Hetzner’s continuous commitment to invest in our customers’ growth, a third Data Centre was opened in Cape Town (CPT3) in September 2011.
Hetzner's affiliated sister company, Hetzner Online AG in Falkenstein, Germany, hosts servers and websites for those customers who wish to target European and US based markets or wish to make use of more cost effective hosting options as bandwidth quotas are more generous in markets outside SA.
Customer feedback
I was fortunate enough to visit your Johannesburg Data Centre in Gallo Manor.
Over the past few years I have worked for a few large organisations in Johannesburg and surrounding areas and I have always been ill impressed with their server rooms. My typical depiction of a server room was a large chilled room filled with numerous rows of servers and cabinets, cables lying all over the show and large bundles of cables all intertwined in total chaos. I could not understand how anyone could ever know how and where each cable was being used.
I would like to commend you on the best server rooms I have ever seen. Never have I been so impressed by the neatness and uncluttered feeling of a server room. You guys really blew my socks off! I would have no problem in referring anyone to Hetzner for server hosting in future.
I congratulate you on having such phenomenally clean and uncluttered server rooms, this is something which I think you as an organisation can really be proud of!!
Michael Hughes - A R I C E N T
MTN Business Data Centres
In 2008 all Hetzner's Data Centres were running at full capacity. In February 2008, Hetzner opted to use MTN Business' Data Centre facilities in Johannesburg.
Hetzner Network Connections
Hetzner’s Network Connections in SA
Hetzner provides a resilient and redundant network infrastructure which allows for maximum uptime. Our substantial bandwidth capacity allows us to accommodate spikes in traffic, reducing the chance of customers experiencing network degradation.
Our routers are connected via fibre optic cables to our upstream provider, MTN Business, from where we have uncapped access to their local and international network. Our Data Centres are connected to MTN Business via a 1GBit uplink. A second, redundant fibre optic cable follows a different path.
Hetzner’s Network Connections in Germany
Hetzner also offers a third server location option in Falkenstein, Germany. Three redundant high-speed fibre optic lines to Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Amsterdam ensure faster data transfer which can transport up to 220 GBit.
By sharing floor space with Hetzner Online AG, Hetzner South Africa is able to share the features of the Falkenstein Data Centre with all our customers hosting their websites on our servers in Germany. Their state-of-the-art, energy efficient Data Centre received the eco Internet Award for the category 'Hosting' in 2011 making them best hosting provider in Germany.
Hosting in Germany is the perfect location for those who are intending to target the US and European markets. For clients who would like a more cost effective option, Germany is the best option as traffic costs are much lower than in SA, providing you with a higher traffic quota. However, should you wish to target a South African market, you should bear in mind that by hosting with a DE package you may experience network latency, affecting your web page download speed.
Data Centre Components
Climate Control
The heat output of servers is considerable, and without environmental control, servers will fail or have their lifetime reduced considerably. To compensate for the heat output of Hetzner servers, all Data Centres are fitted with Air Conditioning systems designed to provide maximum cooling for the server environment. The Air Conditioners were installed and are maintained by experts, ensuring maximum efficiency.
The Remote Technology (RT) systems provide an early warning of air conditioner failure or other unusual environmental conditions. Should a fault or failure be detected, all our Data Centres are equipped with redundant Air Conditioner capacity.
Security and Monitoring
Biometric/Magnetic Access Control
All visitors to the Data Centres must be accompanied by a Hetzner employee at all times.
Access to the Cape Town Data Centres is controlled by a Biometric fingerprint access system. Hetzner is able to manage the movements of staff by identifying and verifying them with this fingerprint technology.
To access the Johannesburg Data Centres, employees need to pass through the building's security check points as well as Biometric Access control before reaching the actual Data Centre's keypad access system. A unique combination is entered into the keypad which will then disengage the magnetic hold on the doors.
24/7 Monitoring of premises
All South African Data Centres are monitored by CCTV cameras. In addition each building premises is patrolled by 24/7 on-site security guards.
UPS and Generators
A redundant Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is installed in each Data Centre to ensure clean power is delivered to our network and to instantly protect servers from any power interruptions. A diesel power generator takes over in the case of an outage. All Hetzner's UPS's have up to two hours of battery backup.
Fire Protection
Hetzner Data Centres are fitted with fire detection and fire suppression systems. When there is confirmation of a fire, the Suppression system releases an Argon-Nitrogen mixture which decreases the oxygen level to below the point at which combustion can take place.
Technicians and Support
All critical systems (UPS, air conditioning, temperature ranges, managed servers etc.) are monitored 24/7/365 with notification via email and SMS to more than one support staff member. All servers in our Data Centres are installed and monitored by qualified technicians, minimising the risk of error or failure.
Network Framework
Hetzner uses 2 Juniper routers (master and backup) on the edge of both our Cape Town and Johannesburg networks with full redundant fibre uplinks into our upstream provider’s core network. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) technology is used to manage this routing connection between Hetzner and its upstream providers. Hetzner’s master router will always route traffic in and out of our network. Should there be a failure of the master router, traffic will automatically start routing over the backup router with no interruption in service.
Our core network in Johannesburg consists of four PowerConnect switches, two switches in each Data Centre. These are setup in a stack configuration. Stacking is a where multiple switches are linked together acting as a single switch for redundancy. Our core network in Cape Town consist of 3 Juniper switches in a Virtual Chassis fibre configuration. A Virtual Chassis is another method whereby multiple switches are linked together to act as a single switch. These Virtual Chassis switches are setup in a ring topology with 10GbE fibre links to improve redundancy.
